BUSINESSES are being urged to register for events designed to help them bid for more than £700m of contracts for goods and services for the 2012 Olympic Games.

The events come after the Welsh Assembly Government and the Olympic Delivery Authority were criticised for failing to help secure a fair share of Olympic construction projects.

Welsh firms won just £668,663 of the total £5.6bn of the top-level contracts that have already been awarded for the 2012 Games.

But Ieuan Wyn Jones, Minister for the Economy and Transport, said there were significant opportunities on offer for companies based in Wales.

“Welsh-based businesses have already won contracts well in excess of £38m and I want to see more small and medium- sized enterprises win more business,” he said.

“Thousands of Welsh businesses have registered on the CompeteFor website and my department is also working with businesses that have not yet registered to help them to take advantage of opportunities.”

An event on February 3 at the Beaufort Hotel, Mold, will inform delegates on how to register on the CompeteFor web portal, find tendering opportunities and respond to tenders and pre-qualification questionn- aires. To register log on to www. procurementevents.co.uk.

Presentations will be given by representatives of LOCOG (the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games), the CompeteFor buyer engagement team and Balfour Beatty, a Tier 1 contractor which has placed a number of contracts with Welsh firms.

Several major sponsors of the Games are participating in two additional events to inform businesses of the assistance on offer.

These are planned for the Millennium Stadium on March 8 in Cardiff and Venue Cymru, Llandudno, on March 22.